Spy vs Spy
by To.Olympus.Allons-y
Summary: Annabeth is in the top of her class at Half-Blood Spy Facilities, defeating any enemies that cross her way. Especially the ones from Jupiter, the other facility that's full of heartless killers. But one of her common enemies seems far too familiar, eventually flipping her secret life upside down. Spy AU.
1. The Spider Lady

Annabeth

Annabeth Chase kicked her legs across the couch on her private jet casually, as if there wasn't a care in the world. Her tensed muscles relaxed after a long hard day of life. Yes, _private jet_, and it was technically hers. Her mother's at least. She's the one who bought the thing, but being her daughter it seemed fair to have the right to own it. She was supposed to be preparing, but being lazy she didn't feel like doing that at all. Her blonde curls that she was suppose to put up were still out loose, hitting the ground as she reclined her head back over the arm rest, viewing everything upside down. Whenever she had the chance, a break was always spectacular. Annabeth had quite a hectic life, but she would never take back a second of it.

Well, back to the jet. Why was she even on a jet? Let's just say Annabeth Chase has a mission to complete in a little over than an hour. Mission? Huh? Confusing, or so it seems, but you'll find out later.

"Incoming call." The robotic voice she was so familiar with rang from the watch on her wrist. Looked like a normal digital watch, but it was really a super mega computer that held all sorts of data and other things. Plus, you could project 3-D images from it, kind of like the Anglenator from the TV show, Bones. She's used it to build her own buildings, or play a game of Pac-Man over her head.

Annabeth grinned. It was one of those sounds she grew up with, so it kinda stuck on her like glue. She pressed the 'answer' button on the side, revealing a little hologram of her mother standing on her wrist. Captain Athena was standing regally, proud. Giggles were trying to escape from Annabeth's mouth. Annabeth couldn't take her seriously because she was about the size of a pear.

"Annabeth, really, again?" Her mother scolded. Just because she was a little hologram didn't mean she couldn't see her daughter.

"I'm really sorry, Captain," Annabeth replied, trying to contain her laughter but the curves of her lips were still twitching upwards giving herself away. "You're just so...cute." Her mother rolled her eyes. She cleared her throat, continuing on her message.

"Anyways, Night Owl, you are on your way to a dangerous mission."

"Aren't all my missions dangerous?" Annabeth sasses. Her mother rolled her eyes.

"Annabeth, you know I have to start with- you know what, never mind. You already know my whole introduction, no need to repeat myself. You're on your way to find Arachne, who's supposedly behind this spider-robot infestation situation." Ah yes, the one that was making a the headlines. Little, tiny robotic spiders had been crawling around towns stealing power sources. Phone lines have been shutting down, computers, all electricity. Luckily, it's only been hitting small towns so far.

"Of course it'd be her," Annabeth gritted her teeth. "But why did you have to choose me, Captain? I'm the one who's petrified of spiders."

"You must face your fears, Night Owl," Captain Athena lectured. "You're top ranked, I can't be having you afraid of anything, now can I?"

"No, m'am."

"Good. Besides, you know how to fight her. This should be the fourth time you go against her, you should be used her. Now, you have about a forty-five minute flight ahead of you. Her new lair is supposedly on an island nearby, so it'll be fine for your standards. You may watch television to pass the time. Good luck." And just like that, Athena vanished from her wrist. Annabeth sighed and turned on the TV.

Okay, you probably get the gist of it. Annabeth is a spy. "Yeah, sounds like a made of story but no it's not." She flips through various channels, stopping when she sees that the CW is playing a rerun of Supernatural. "I get it. You guys probably think this is all a fake, I'm not actually a spy, and yeah whatever. Trust me, this is one hard life. Get rid of those wishes you had when you were a little kid."

Annabeth gets up to fetch herself a bottle of water from the condiments pantry. "It's tough, especially when you're number one like me. You're expected to everything perfectly, and you can't have a single mess up," she takes a sip of water and raises an eyebrow in your general direction. "I'm the best, and I've always been the best. Not just because my mom's the Captain, of course, but I swear I do my best.

"A normal person would seriously never last a day in my shoes. You've got school in the morning till the afternoon, then training for a good four hours, do your homework, train for at least another two hours, it sucks.

"I didn't ask for this life. Clearly, I was born into it. My mom's mom was a spy, then my mom got trained into it, it's like a family thing. Dad had a pretty big shock after he and my mom started dating for a while, but he settled in after a month or two." She recalls her father telling her stories of how he and her mom met. "Dad's part time computer junkie, part time historian. So his hands are pretty full as well.

"Half-Blood facilities is the only home I've ever known. I wasn't born there though, just at a local hospital. It's a huge part of my life, I never want to leave," Annabeth grabs the remote and turns up the volume. It's the rerun where Sam is stuck in a time loop. On that day, it was always a Tuesday for Sam. Well, at least every time Dean died. Could you believe he got poisoned by a taco?

"Y'know, I dislike relating myself I fictional characters, but sometimes I feel like the Winchesters. They were quote-on-quote born into the hunting job, like how I was born into being a spy. It wasn't exactly their choice. And you get sick of it sometimes. You're just tired. You're just tired of what you do and you just sort of start wishing for a normal life." Her vision drifted to the indigo sky, the clouds barely reflecting off color. Nightfall was coming faster than she thought. "But I don't regret it. Not any of it. Well, sometimes I do, but that's just sometimes."

Annabeth continued to watch television (she was already getting sick of hearing the song 'heat of the moment' over and over again) as Bill the pilot tells her it's almost time for drop off. Clicking off the TV, grabbing her backpack, then finally putting her hair up, she waits by the door for the signal to jump. She double checks her backpack for the parachute so she doesn't fall to her death.

"Ready, sweetheart?" Bill asks over the intercom.

"Ready! Opening the door, now!" With all her might, Annabeth pushed the door against the force of the powerful wind outside. A blast flew straight into her face, nearly blowing her back. She grabbed a hold of the sidebar glancing down below. It was at least an a thousand feet difference. She pulled up the attached ski mask to cover part of her face, then topped it off with a helmet.

"Island should be right below you! There's at least 15 mph of wind but you know how to how calculate the degrees! Maybe just try to fly forty-five degrees east! That's all the advice I've got!" Bill shouted over the intercom.

"Got it! Jumping now! Copy?" Annabeth screamed into the speaker.

"Copy! Good luck, sweetheart!"

"Thanks! And don't call me 'sweetheart'!" She heard bill chuckle before jumping out.

Annabeth leaped out the plane, which would've been unfortunate if she didn't know what she was doing. All her life she loved areal work. Annabeth was always the one who the most time in the indoor sky diving machine in the facility anyways. The feeling of soaring though the sky, being weightless, the fierce wind brushing your cheeks until they're red, everything.

Nearing the island, she gave the string at her side a good tug, unloading a huge, gray parachute with an owl imprinted on it. Annabeth steadied herself. Pull left, right, slightly left, slightly right, repeat. She landed safely on shore.

Annabeth used her watch to detect any source of motion or presence around her. Nothing appeared to show up. She was ready to roll.

Slowly, making sure to take each step heel to toe. She found herself exhaling with every step she took. It was like a reassurance to her, she never knew why she did it. Creeping up towards the run down building, Annabeth began to breath quieter. Oh, it wasn't the creepiness that was making her freak out, it was the fact she was about to face a giant spider-lady that was causing her to freak out. Old, about to crumble buildings are just dandy. Spiders? Nope.

Once inside, her breathing went down to a minimum. Steady silent breaths are the key. Her eyes scanned for any sign of traps that may be lurking around. She recalled that Arachne had the habit of leaving booby trap wires around her lair. Annabeth fell in the first time she encountered them, getting stuck in that stupid pit for a good half hour. After that incident, Annabeth promised she wouldn't do something so darn stupid again. She's gotten _way_ too used to her tactics; almost memorized all of them. A gasp escaped her when she felt her foot get stuck to something similar to extra-sticky silly puddy.

Okay, maybe not every tactic.

"You're kidding!" Annabeth struggled, attempting to lift it over and over. This was _officially_ the most embarrassing moment of her entire career.

"'Fraid not, my dear." Arachne hissed above her. Annabeth's head whirled around until she saw Arachne hanging from the ceiling. Her beady, yellow eyes were bright as day in the darkness, a few of her robotic limbs held onto a pipe. She had a specific suit that turned her into a spider-creature whenever she wanted. It included web shooters, poison darts, and length changing legs. "After all this time using darts, knives, etc, I came up with a new strategy! Something so simple you would have never thought of it! And it worked!"

"So what is this, super glue?" Annabeth asked sarcastically.

"No, darling. My webs! I shot them all over the place myself! Extra sticky, aren't they?" Not to mention extra lame. The last thing Annabeth needed was to get stuck in some goop Arachne made herself from within her. Or the suit at least. Plus, this tactic was so lame. "Oh, that reminds me. Don't try the slipping off your boot tactic, I thought you might do that as well. Actually anybody would do that, now that I think of it." She thought aloud, tapping her chin.

"Wait, what-" out of nowhere, three strings of spider webs shot out, clinging tightly onto Annabeth's other free limb and her arms. However, thanks to her reflexes, Annabeth as able to stick her right arm behind her back. "Ugh, damnit!"

"So, feeling comfortable?" Arachne taunted. She came down from where she was hanging, and strode towards Annabeth. In the light, her hideous face became clear. The lack of meat on her cheeks, the sunken eyes, a sickly purple complexion, and how beat skinny she was, Arachne was a nightmare. She stuck a bony finger under Annabeth's chin, nearly digging her sharp nail into Annabeth's throat. "Tsk, tsk, such a shame. I always thought you were rather pretty. What a pity you have to die today..."

"W-what do you mean?" Annabeth stuttered, playing dumb. Asking these dumb questions bought her time, and she was cooking up a plan in her head. The reason for sticking her right arm back is because she has a small pocket knife hidden in a secret pocket. If she managed to get it, she could cut herself free on her left arm first, then use her normal knife. Smart thinking, no? And ever so simple. "I-I have to die? Tonight?"

"Why of course, dear! What other night would it be? I've got you right here, right now, what better time to kill you? Besides, when you are dead, I'll be able to use my newest machine on every city in the world!" Oh yeah, Arachne's some mechanical genius as well. Take note from the spider robots. Arachne strode to the other side of the room, disappearing into the darkness. Annabeth squinted, trying to get a glimpse of where she was going. A large flash of light illuminated everything, blinding her. She turned her head away, opening an eye to see what was happening. "Behold, my newest invention: Araneae 3000!" Arachne held her hands our proudly, revealing her newest killing machine. Annabeth took note of the shape, only to find it was just an enormous, robotic spider; similar to the smaller ones she made earlier in the month. "Quite a beauty, isn't she?" _With a lame name. _"Would you like to know what it does?" She went on before Annabeth could answer. "Now, as you might notice, this robot is very similar to the ones I made before."

_You don't say, _Annabeth grunted. She already tired of all her blabbing and wish she could punch her mouth shut. Annabeth opened her knife, beginning to cut away at the webs that bound her.

"You see, those petite ones were just testers, I had to know exactly how much energy they could harvest before creating the large one. I was genuinely surprised at how much they gathered! Feasting on electricity like pigs. With so much energy, I figured that would be enough to destroy every electrical resource on the entire planet, making my kingdom! Imagine: human slaves, bowing down to their one and only master! I will finally get everything I want! Don't you think that sounds, gosh, what is that phrase you children use now?" Arachne mumbled after her overly dramatic speech. No offense to her, but wasn't that the genuine plan of every evil mastermind? "Hip? I believe that's it. Doesn't my plan sound hip, dear sweet Night Owl?"

_No, it does not sound 'hip',_ Annabeth wanted to say. Seriously, every villain just wanted the world. However, nobody wanted it more Arachne sighed, returning to the topic of her machine.

"There is also one more feature that I would like to share. It's a rather late addition, you see, so I'm not quite sure if it works or not. Now that I have a test subject, I can test to see if it'll really work." Arachne's fingers fumbled across several buttons. Annabeth's attention averted from her knife cutting, witnessing an intensely large ray gun emerge from the large spider's abdomen. Annabeth examined it. Judging by the way it's structured and the overall generic shape of it, she found it safe to say it was just a normal villain's ray gun. "Also, before the gears in your brain decides it's a normal ray gun, I would like to point out that it is not." Damnit.

"This is one of my own creations. There's no name yet, but I will think of something soon. It has three main functions: one to automatically kill someone and turn them to dust, turn a measly human into a spider servant, and one to just make them taste delicious after wrapping them up in an unbreakable cocoon." Arachne smiled in delight.

Annabeth wanted to smart-mouth her and say something clever, but she had a Percy moment and said, "Um, okay." Arachne scoffed.

"When did you turn stupid and unprofessional? Anyways, you may forget about me killing you. I've decided to just turn you into a spider-like me. So, let me just check the settings and get things going. Think about any last words you would like to say as a human!" Arachne turned her back, which was a big mistake.

Cutting faster than ever before, Annabeth was nearly freed from the webs on her wrist. _Faster!_ Within another 30 seconds, her left arm was free. She quickly cut the rest of the webs with the her large dagger. She began cooking up a plan in her head. Annabeth leaped onto several boxes that stacked on her left, making her way up to the balcony. For safe measure, she climbed a rope to the walkway, where Arachne was hanging earlier, located near the roof. Her hands began to turn red and burn, but she kept going. Finally reaching the top, she silently hopped on.

From there, she moved around to find a clear shot. _There, _an absolute perfect window. Annabeth took out her gun, popping up the viewing scope. of course, she wasn't going to shoot Arachne; she was going to shoot the giant-robot-spider-thing. Cause a distraction and get down in time to tie her up, simple. Annabeth didn't believe in killing people, even if they were her biggest enemies. Sometimes she would shoot them if necessary, but it was never a fatal blow. She believed that everyone has a right to live, and a good solid lock-up would do them good. As always, they always managed to get out somehow and she'd just have to do it all over again. However, there was one person she never really got the courage to really harm, even if she wanted to: her worst enemy from Jupiter [Spy Center], another spy by the name of Shark Bait.

Jupiter isn't exactly filled with the best kind of people. Unlike Half-blood, Jupiter is cold-hearted and determined to destroy everything in their path to get what they wanted. Ruthless, prepared to do anything to take over the world. Isn't that so cliche? They just want all the villains in the world to team up with them so they can all achieve the same goal.

Annabeth peered into the viewing scope and decided to aim in three main places: the computer, the panel Arachne is busy typing on, and if she got lucky she could hit the hard drive right in the middle. The big, juicy heart was a definite target. Of course, being top of her class, Annabeth knew she could shoot it with ease. She got ready and took a deep breath.

_Ready, aim, fire._

She shot the computer, making Arachne shriek in fear. The monster turned around, trying to find Annabeth but failed due to her bad vision. She averted her eyes to where Annabeth was tied up earlier, only to find a pile of broken rope and a pile of her webs. "Night Owl is supposed to be tied up!" She frantically searched the area surrounding her, giving Annabeth another chance to shoot the button panel. She fired, making the panel spark and burst into flames. "No!"

"Oh yeah!" Annabeth screamed from the balcony. She took a final shot at the small hard drive in the middle of the overly large spider automaton, making it sizzle in flames. Smoke began filling the room, giving Annabeth the perfect chance to sneak up behind Arachne. Arachne was busy coughing, swatting away any smoke near her. She cleared her throat before shouting, "Show yourself!"

"Gladly," Annabeth side kicked Arachne in the ribs, making an insanely loud 'FWAP!'. Arachne lost her balance, but regained it quickly. Her super-spidey suit pulled out several ray guns on her arms, and two more on her back. Annabeth smirked. She loved a challenge.

All four ray guns began shoot at our brave Night Owl rapidly creating bright beams of neon light. Of course she was shooting blindly thanks to the smoke, but that didn't stop her from shooting in a distinct order. She dodged all of them after memorizing the pattern. Up twice, left, bottom right three times, one from each gun. Annabeth was seriously gonna let out a huge yawn. To her, this was just child's play and she was waiting for the real challenges to begin.

"Is that all you've got?"

Arachne laughed heartlessly in the shadows. "Of course you know I'm full of surprises, dear." _Right._ Night Owl ducked from the punch thrown at her, the usual tactic Arachne used that she almost always seemed to forget. Automatically she ducked down and did a helicopter spin with her leg out, hoping to trip her. Her guess was right and Arachne fell to the ground, shooting Annabeth some more. Night Owl dodged them all, kicking Arachne in the face, and Arachne grabbed her by one of her ankles dragging her to the ground. Night Owl yelped and fell, taking out her knife to block two of Arachne's spider legs, then kicked her in the abdomen where she flew off of Annabeth. On the ground, Arachne attempted to stab Annabeth with her legs, but Annabeth quickly blocked them with her dagger, and Night Owl smacked her in the face with back of her blade, _hard_. While she was still woozy, it took one kick for Annabeth to get her to a lamp post, where she took off Arachne's spider-suit and handcuffed her arms behind the post. Arachne glared at her, her thin face bruised and bottom lip bleeding.

"I _will_ get you one day, my dear," Her hallow eyes pierced into Annabeth's soul. Annabeth scoffed.

"Save it, Spider Lady." Annabeth called the cops using her wristwatch, and they promised to rush on over. Annabeth waited for their arrival while keeping a good eye on her enemy. Once they arrived, they thanked Annabeth for her good work and took Arachne away. Bill picked Annabeth up from the dock when the scene was over, taking her back home.

The first thing Annabeth did when she got back on the jet was face-plant onto the couch. She had taken off her mask and let her hair loose, so it was spilling all over the place. She was so tired she really didn't care. All her muscles were tight at the moment and she just wanted to sleep. Annabeth did a time check and saw it was only 9:30, and she normally slept at 10:30. She was craving an extra hour of sleep. She took out a thick blanket and a pillow from under the couch preparing for slumber till her phone began to vibrate in her backpack nearby. She let out a groan, searching for it. Annabeth answered tiredly, the sleep slipping into her voice. "Hello?"

"You sound tired, Wise Girl." The voice on the other side acknowledged. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"That's because I _am_, stupid. I was just about to sleep."

"But it's only 9:30!"

"Doesn't mean I'm not tired," she protested. "What is it Percy?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with a few math problems," Percy chuckled on the other side.

"Alright, but make it quick," Annabeth agreed. Percy quickly told her his troubles, and Annabeth helped him with ease. Once they were finished, Annabeth was so exhausted she could barely hold the phone in her hand. Percy took note of it quickly, hearing she was slipping away from their conversation.

"Go to sleep, Wise Girl. You sound like you're gonna crash any second," He laughed lightly. Ananbeth smiled. She always thought Percy's laugh sounded nice.

"'Kay," she mumbled back. She brushed her hand over her face, and pinched a cheek. "Night, Seaweed Brain."

"Night, Wise Girl." And Percy hung up. Annabeth closed her eyes and let her exhaustion take over.

* * *

**Finally it's up! This took so much longer than I intended. I hope you liked it though! **

**As for the usual spiel, this year I am _crazy_ busy. I'm not sure how often I can update, but I'll try to update whenever I can. Can't wait to keep this going! I take requests as well for filler chapters(:**

**Review this maybe? Thanks!**


	2. Ordinary

**Enjoy chapter two!**

**~Happy Reading!**

* * *

Annabeth

The alarm blared at 7:30 sharp. No less, no later. Well, it's an alarm and that's what alarms do, and that's mainly why she hated them. Stupid things that wake you up and remind you have things to do and days to get through. She drowsily tapped 'stop' on her phone screen, pushing her face deeper into her pillow. Automatically she screamed, "WHHHHYYYY?"

"Sweetie?" her mother knocked lightly on her door. "Are you up?" During the day, Captain Athena was just another mother trying to get her daughter to school and make sure she doesn't do anything bad. Annabeth rolled her eyes behind half-closed lids.

"I'm gettin' there!"

"Alright. Pancakes are on the table so just come get them when you're ready," with that, Annabeth listened to her mother's footsteps disappear down the hall. Grudgingly, Annabeth pulled herself off her bed. She was most certainly not a morning person. Really all she wanted to do was stay in the warmth of her comforter and sleeping for another good century or so. I mean, who wants to get up and _do things_?

She had to move quickly if she wanted to be ready before Percy came. Everyday, her best friend in the entire world (not an exaggeration) would pick her up from her house and they'd walk to school together. It's been their day routine since they were in sixth grade. Now as juniors in high school, it's stuck to them. She chose a normal outfit of the say which consisted of jeans that cut off slightly above the ankles and a tank top. That's it. She never really tried hard with her appearance mainly because she liked the way she looked. Annabeth tried not to bring herself down often, but she didn't ever really have time to do so anyways.

She ate breakfast quickly and brushed her teeth, then double checked her backpack. Yup. This girl was ready to roll. She finished when Percy rang the doorbell. Annabeth smiled, and ran to the door, opening it to find Percy leaning against the doorway. He had his signature trouble maker smirk outfitted with a grey t-shirt and tan colored jeans. His untamed hair was swept to the left, and she could tell he tried to fix it with his fingers. He nodded his head as a greeting. "Mornin', madam."

"Morning, sir," She grabbed her backpack, tugging the strap over her shoulder. "Shall we go?"

"We shall. Morning, Mrs. Chase!" Percy called into the house. Athena was in the kitchen, a window from the front door. Athena smiled and waved at Percy.

"Morning, sweetheart! Have a good day at school you two!" The duo left without another word. They walked the first few blocks doing their normal chats. Complaining about homework, teachers, their plans for the future and what colleges they hoped they could get into. This was their most stressful year. Talking about it with each other made it feel a lot better, alleviating their fears for the future. Afterwards, they'd be at the halfway point to school. They'd spend the last ten minutes talking about whatever they wanted. Percy was busy telling her the story of the time in freshman year when a kid in his science class accidentally set a table on fire in their classroom. Percy was quite a story teller. One after another, he'd sit you down and tell you a story. Annabeth would always listen, and she always enjoyed them. Even the ones she'd heard already, she liked the hear them again.

"A-and then," Percy had to catch his breath because he was laughing so hard. Annabeth rolled her eyes. He was always super giggly when it came to something he found really funny. "I'm really s-sorry if I find this funny, but he got his _hand_ on fire, and then the fire on the table was already a foot high and Ms. Norberry didn't even notice! Oh my god it was the greatest day of my life." Percy continued to laugh, and when he was almost calmed he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Annabeth was actually laughing a little too, mainly because she _did_ think it was funny, but horrible because the poor guy caught his hand on fire. "I can't believe his hand was on fire and the teacher didn't notice."

"I know right?! Like that lady needs a pair of better glasses. She was, like, a foot away!" Percy exclaimed. Annabeth breathed out a laugh, shaking her head. "Thank god he was okay though. He just got some lighter fluid on his hand and it just burned on the fluid."

"I wish my life was as interesting as yours. I don't have any kinds of those stories," She lied. She wanted to sympathize which is what a good friend does. Annabeth stared down at the ground, looking upset. Of course it wasn't the fact that she didn't have any stories like that to share, but because Percy didn't know the whole truth about her. That was rule number one. _Do not tell anyone of your other life._ _Your other identity__ must remain a secret._ Percy smiled a little.

"Hey, c'mon," Percy nudged her shoulder. "Your life is plenty interesting. Hell, you're the only friend I know who does indoor skydiving as a _hobby_. Like, how cool is that?" He beamed at her, hoping to make her feel better. She couldn't help but smile back. "Besides, that was just a school story. What other stories do I have that aren't from school?" He had a point. He didn't really tell any other stories , and sometimes she wondered about his personal life. At the same time she never wanted to ask about it because she was worried she would dig too deep. She understood though. The best she figured she could dig into him was his mom and his hobbies. She didn't share her personal life either. For all he knew, she was a nerdy girl who loves skydiving, books, Marvel movies and just a plain old geek. How much further could he get?

"I'm getting P.E credit for it, okay." She shot back. Percy laughed while shaking his head. "And I don't care where your stories come from. I love them anyway."

"Aww, thanks Wise Girl," He stopped walking just so he could do a curtsy. Annabeth laughed like an idiot. He was also the biggest dork on the planet.

"C'mon, little lady. We gotta pick up the pace." She grabbed him by his backpack strap and pulled him along.

_" "_

Percy

Curtsies are always necessary.

They make her laugh, no matter the occasion, and Percy always remembered that. When she was down, the simplest thing could make her smile. He never forgets that. He kind of always thought his job was to make sure she was always happy. Percy seriously couldn't imagine having anyone else besides her being his best friend, despite all his other friends.

He was sort of popular, but not super popular. He had a ton of friends at school, yet he can barely attach himself to them-which is a good thing, in a way. He had the buddies he said hello to in the halls, the girl friends who he'd give small hugs to greet them, his older friends who would sometimes still ruffle his hair even though it's been so long since he was shorter than them. It was impossible for Percy to be lonely at school. The closest group of friends he had were the same people Annabeth hung out with, so that's pretty lucky that he gets to hang out with her and all the most awesome people in the school.

"By the way, did you finish Mr. Lowell's reading?" Percy had completely forgotten about that assignment. He didn't realize his second period box wasn't X-ed out in his planner until this morning, meaning he didn't do the homework. Annabeth snorted, pushing a strand of hair behind her hair.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" Percy nodded his head gravely. "Of course I did it, Percy." She remarked in a matter-of-factly tone. She constantly teased him and Percy has never been bothered by it.

"Could you kinda-maybe-possibly-sorta tell me what it was about so I don't flop the quiz today?" He twiddled his thumbs, swishing them backwards and forwards, It was really obvious to pick out when Percy was nervous. He had the same three habits that made him stick out like a sore thumb. The first hint being running his hand through his hair. That was stage one nervous, like he's nervous about your response of a question he asked. The second hint is the twiddling his thumbs, swirling them around, almost close to the jitters. He wouldn't be able to keep his hands still. The third hint was his word combinations, which always incorporated the word 'maybe' and 'kinda'. This was when he was pretty nervous for something. He'd take those two words and cluster them with other synonyms. Now a quiz he didn't study for? Of course he's terrified, his grades were bad already pretty rotten.

Annabeth sighed, obviously disappointed that he didn't do his homework again, but not surprised.

"Colonies, Perce. Specifically when Raleigh Walters tried to establish his own colony. Raleigh Walter came over with his crew, and they tried to settle in and either ran out of supplies or didn't have anyone who had any skills that would have been useful. When he went back to England to retrieve more supplies, he promised he'd be back by fall. Now just imagine: he had to sail across the Atlantic which was already _outrageously_ difficult, so imagine trying to do it again. When they finally managed to get back to the island, everyone was gone. Not a person in sight. The only thing that was left behind was the word 'Croatoan' engraved on a tree. Got it?" She finished. Percy blinked once, then another time, and then coolly wrapped his arm around Annabeth poking her shoulder with his pointer finger.

"You mind repeating all that because I've already forgotten what you just said." He smiled a flashy smile, hoping she would be kind enough to fulfill his request. Annabeth glared at him, detaching herself harshly from his hold, forcing a no out her mouth. "Why not?!"

"Percy, I am not your personal textbook! You borrowed one of those on orientation! I can't always fill you in when you don't do your work."

"It's just this once!"

"That's what you've been saying for years! God, you're such an idiot!" She shook her head, walking a little faster to get away from him. She was seriously starting to get on her nerves and their day had _barely_ started. Percy didn't understand why she had to be such a diva sometimes. He didn't want to keep going with the argument since it was pointless. He ran a hand through his hair, then gave Annabeth a hug. _  
_

"Sorry." He mumbled. She laughed a little, wrapping an arm around him.

"S'okay. I think I overreacted a little bit." Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, embarrassed with herself. He detached himself, shoving his hands in his pockets. He did admit that it must've been annoying for her to always tell him things he should have learned by himself at home. He gave her a point this time.

"Seriously though, please?" He pleaded with a puppy dog face, his green eyes begging for her help. Annabeth breathed out a sigh, but agreed. For the rest of the way, Annabeth repeated the reading and Percy tried his best to remember everything she said.

" "

"I hope you all found the quiz rather easy, because it should have been if you did the reading last night." Mr. Lowell, their AP U.S history teacher remarked as he collected the quizzes from each student's desk. "Well, we have about five minutes till lunch, so feel free to mingle." As soon as he said that, Percy raced to Annabeth's desk on the other side of the room.

"I remembered stuff! I remembered! I don't think I flopped it. Seriously you're the best person ever!" He tackled her in a hug, and she chuckled under his arms.

"Careful, Seaweed Brain, let me breathe." He took a seat at the empty desk beside her, plopping down just as their friend Piper turned to talk to Annabeth.

"Dude, I didn't think it'd be that easy! His quizzes are usually such a pain in the ass!" She remarked. She was so proud of herself it was cute to see her smile so big. Piper was pretty cute in general. Her hair was chopped up because she didn't care about how she looked. All around, Pipes is a total sweetheart until you decide to push to the point of annoyance where she will violently threaten you. Just ask Leo; he almost gets it all the time yet they manage to stay best friends."I can't believe I actually understood the reading last night. Normally I'd fall asleep after, like, three pages."

"Ditto," Percy agreed.

"Annnnddd," Leo joined in, sticking his head into the conversation. Leo's like a Latino Santa's little helper. Leo wasn't even struggling in this class, yet he always acted like he was. Okay, he was a little bit. He just never did his homework, leaving his grades on the down low. Still, he praised every test that's curved, begs for extra credit when he needs it; Leo's always pushing Mr. Lowell's buttons. Oh yeah, and he always makes dumb jokes. They're funny, but just plain stupid sometimes (he's made a note to never tell the 'impasta' joke to Piper again. She threatened to punch him on the mouth). "He is gonna curve this one! We all go home happy!"

"I don't understand why you guys are all complaining. The work in this class isn't even that hard." All heads turned toward Annabeth, with 'seriously?' looks on their faces. Annabeth frowned. "What?"

"Look, bud. You're the one with the super-awesome-mega memory. Do you think we can compete with that?" Leo brought up.

"Yeah, you're a genius Annabeth. We're just average." Piper agreed with Leo. Annabeth looked down in embarrassment. She felt awkward whenever her friends praised her, because she didn't feel she should have to be praised. Still, she took in their kind words.

"Thanks guys, but you guys are really smart too. I'm more of an introvert who doesn't do anything but schoolwork in her free time." She chuckled nervously. Her friends rolled their eyes, and the lunch bell rang before they could say anything else.

"C'mon, let's just drop this and go eat." Piper looped her arm with Annabeth's, and they walked to their lunch spot together.

The rest of their gang was already there by the time Leo, Percy, Piper and Annabeth had arrived. It was a tree with a bench circling around it, and the best part is they all fit together. They weren't a huge group, but it was still nice that they could all sit together and even better, face each other. Grover, Thalia, and Nico were already together and chatting away. Annabeth and Piper ran to them, giving each of them a greeting hug (yes, even Nico). Their forty minutes of freedom began.

"Ugh, can you BELIEVE Ms. Norberry? Lady's blind as a bat! For once, I decide to raise my hand because I actually _know_ the answer this time, and she doesn't even notice! My seat's right up in the front! Jeebers!" Thalia always had something to complain about. This time, and like many others, it was about her AP chem teacher. "I will personally get her a pair of new glasses." Percy excitedly pointed at Thalia, repeating the motion that he had something to say but couldn't let any words out because his mouth was full of sandwich. Thalia rolled her eyes. "Just chew, swallow, and spit out what you wanna say."

"It's like what I was telling Annabeth this morning! I told her about the time Tom set the table on fire and she didn't notice!" Everyone bust out laughing, and of course Leo _had _to sing something that was related to the subject which of course was Alicia Key's 'This Girl is on Fire', but he replaced 'girl' with 'table'.

"I dunno, guys. We're getting old. Our teachers are starting to pay less and less attention to us." Grover replied, shaking his head. Despite being the same age as all his friends, he looked the oldest because of his little goatee, and he kinda hit puberty earlier than all the other boys. After seventh grade his face was covered in zits half the time and his curly, ginger hair was absolutely wild. Even four years later, his curly hair had no way to hide under his rasta cap.

After ten minutes of chats, they all turned their heads when they all heard a familiar sound. And of course, what they found, or rather who, was Rachel Elizabeth Dare running towards them with her paint splattered jeans, rainbow tank top and neon green lunch bag in hand. When she finally reached them, she put her hands on her knees to rest and brushed back some of her fiery hair. "Sorry, gang," She apologized between breaths. "Art club ran a little-"

"Over time." They all finished for her. Rachel blinked. She should've been used to it by now, seeing that was always her excuse for being late on Wednesdays.

"Alright, then." She was about to take a seat on the bench, thinking she could squeeze in between Thalia and Grover when really there wasn't enough room.

"Woah, Flame Princess," Thalia stopped her before the seat. "I think we all remember that rule we made in freshman year about the last person coming over." All of them grinned evilly, and point at the somewhat flimsy tree they were all sitting around. They made a rule declaring that the last person to arrive to their spot (which was normally someone late) would have to sit in the tree. At the time, the old tree was _much_ bigger, and hard to climb. They replaced it the summer between freshman and sophomore year, so the tree was still small and new. Rachel groaned loudly. She didn't feel like dealing with this.

"Ugh, guys! I'm too tired for that crap! Can't I just sit down?"

"Nope!" They all chorused. Rachel sighed, shaking her head.

"Whatever. Percy, I hope you're feeling comfy right now." She warned. Percy gave his signature 'what-in-the-world-are-you-talking-about' look.

"I-I mean, yeah, I'm comfy, but-" Rachel walked over to Percy and took a seat on his lap. To everyone, they thought it was normal, though they were all staring at Annabeth. As for Percy, it was kind of awkward with his dream girl sitting next to him. His cheeks were completely red, but continued to eat anyways. Annabeth noticed the stares, glaring at everyone.

"Why are you all looking at me?" She asked quickly. Nobody answered, continuing on with their meals. Seriously, Annabeth should be smarter than this.

For the last five years, Percy has had the _biggest _crush on Annabeth, yet she still doesn't seem to notice.

She never made it easy for him and she never even noticed. She's so perfect, Percy could never dream of anyone else. The way her curly hair falls past her shoulders and frame her face, her tan complexion- she is everything he's ever wanted.

Sometimes they even gave a title for Percy: the boy who wants what he can't have. It's pretty true, actually. Working at Jupiter got rid of all his chances of having a normal life and especially marked off his chances of ever getting together with Annabeth. Thanks to his dyslexia and ADHD Percy struggled in classes, so there go his chances of getting pretty decent grades. His life is so unfair.

"Anyway, we were just talking about Ms. Norberry," Annabeth continued. For the rest of lunch, they all kept bouncing back and forth between teachers, their hobbies, and just about anything they could think of. Soon the bell rang and the learning began once again. This was Percy's least favorite part of the day because he didn't have any afternoon classes with Annabeth. He'd make a pout-y face to her sometimes when they had to separate, and she'd playfully shove his shoulder and remind him they'd walk home together like always. It was still sad he wasn't gonna see her for another three hours.

And of course, the rest of the day was a drag. Teachers babbling away, notes that Percy could really care less about, and the endless paper work they gave and homework assignments that were a bore. He seriously couldn't _wait_ until college.

After stopping by his locker and getting ready to head home, Percy walked down to Annabeth's locker that's on the other side of the junior locker hall. He pushed through the waves of teenagers that we're trying to get outta there. It was good he didn't have to shove anyone, there's only a total of a thousand people at their school it was fine.

Percy always likes the sneaky greetings. The ones that were annoying but fun to do. You get to provoke people once and a while. Goodness, even just standing there, she looked amazing. Percy shook off his lovey-dovey thoughts and strode over. He poked her head, and she waved it off. She'd gotten used to it over the years. Gathering the last of her things, she shut the locker door. "Ready to go?" She smiled. Percy smiled back.

"You bet." They looped arms, making their way home.

Their chats on the way home were simple most of the time because they were too tired for anything else. Sometimes, but rarely, they'd go into deep conversations that require them to make a stop somewhere just so they can talk it out. They always looked to each other for advice since they knew each other inside out.

Almost inside out.

Today, it was a simple day. Chats about school, gossip, etc. Percy never cared about what they talked about as long as he gets to spend time with Annabeth. At around 3:50, they reach Annabeth's house. Percy always walks her to her doorstep to ensure her safety. He also lived further down so he could always make sure. It's a great advantage. "See you tomorrow?" Annabeth asks as she searches for her keys in her bag. Percy nods his head.

"Always."

"Make sure you do your homework this time. I swear I'm not gonna fill you in anymore," She smirks. Percy chuckles, digging his hands in his pockets. She was tough on him.

"You bet, Wise Girl. I'll try to stay on top of things."

"Good." She hugs him, opening her door. "Bye, Seaweed Brain."

"Later, Wise Girl." He waves his hand, then makes his way back home.

Honestly, there was a part inside him where he wished he didn't have to go home. Sure, he loves training. He's loves the adrenaline rush, the work outs, the wave of fear making his senses stronger, shooting a gun and most importantly he made his dad proud. Even as a small child, there was nothing he wanted more but to make his father proud. If your father was the head director of Jupiter Spy Facility, wouldn't you want to spend every waking minute getting your powerful parent to notice you?

Sometimes, Percy didn't even believe in himself. He didn't believe what they were doing was right. Even for evil, world domination just seems like a goal that's too far out of reach. Of course, he never told his dad that. He'd probably get disowned or something. Still, the agents and directors at Jupiter spent a majority of their lives hacking into computer systems and, well, they can kill thousands of civilians at a time. Just reminding himself of that, it made Percy shiver.

They were also known as one of the worst criminals in history. His father could never seem to overcome the idea of revenge, seeking the power he never had and using fear as a tactic to control everyone around. Poseidon's childhood revolved around a drunken mother, an invisible father, and two older brothers that provoked him to the point where he wanted his life to end. It's reason for his anger, the reason why he can't help but want to gain power, i'ts also the reason why Percy's mother is dead. He wanted revenge for what his older brothers did to him when he was little, his hunger was never satisfied, but then again...neither was Percy's.

By the time Percy reached his house, it was the exact time the agents downstairs were expecting him. He has to be on time for everything, or else his position at Jupiter would be handed over to somebody else. He unlocked his front door and greeted by the almost always empty living room. Percy sighed. He actually wished there was one day where he could kick off his shoes after a long day of school and just sit on the couch. Of course those were just dreams and most likely never going to happen. Kind of like his situation with Annabeth. See what I mean by 'the boy who wants what he can't have'?

Percy dropped his keys back into his backpack, then took out his wallet to perform a daily ritual. Behind his school I.D, Percy held a picture of him and his mother before she died, but most importantly, before his father killed her. He smiled sadly, staring at the froze piece of time from better days. It was from his fifth birthday, much before he started training and knew about Jupiter. He had blue frosting smothered in his face, and some bits in his messy raven hair. His mother smiled behind him, beaming at her little son. Percy brought the picture up to his lips, gently kissing his mom before placing it back into his wallet. Then it'd be down the hall, the left closet door, and down the elevator to Jupiter headquarters.

* * *

**Well that was a mouthful! And I know, I never leave Percy with both parents and I'm really sorry :( **

**I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and thank you for waiting so long! I'll see what I can do about updating quicker. See you next update!**

**Review this maybe? Thanks! **


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